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Big Brother 1
Big Brother 1 was the first series of the British reality television series Big Brother. It is based upon the Netherlands series of the same name, which gained notoriety in 1999 and 2000. The series debuted on Channel 4 on 18 July 2000, running for nine weeks until 15 September 2000. Early in its run, the series was met with controversy for numerous reasons, including its use of professional psychiatrists who analyzed the personalities and actions of the contestants. Despite the large amount of controversy, the series was a major success. Forty thousand people applied to participate in the first series. The first week of the series had over 400,000 voters call in to choose to evict someone, while the final week had 7.8 million voters. The series averaged 4.5 million viewers, with a series high of 10 million viewers on the final night. This series featured a total of eleven housemates competing to win the grand prize. The show lasted for a total of 64 days, culminating in housemate Craig Phillips winning the grand prize, and Anna Nolan coming in second place. Several housemates from Big Brother 1 returned to later installments of the show. In 2004, housemate Nick Bateman and Melanie Hill appeared in the spin-off series Big Brother Panto along with nine other former housemates. Eventual winner Craig returned in Big Brother 10 to participate in a task. Nick later returned with other former housemates to compete in Ultimate Big Brother, and entered on Day 1. He ultimately came in 5th place. Anna, Darren, Caroline and Craig all returned for Ultimate Big Brother as well, participating in various tasks. Production Broadcast The contestants entered the House on 14 July 2000. The first episode was broadcast on 18 July 2000 at 9pm. The contestants were recorded 24 hours a day with cameras fixed around the House, and had to wear portable microphones. Each night, with the exception of Saturday, Channel 4 broadcast a daily highlights show, and from the second week there was a live eviction show hosted by Davina McCall, where the evicted housemate was interviewed. During the live eviction episode, a short segment titled "Little Big Brother" was aired, which featured children recapping the week and using guinea pigs as examples. In the nightly highlight episodes, viewers are shown various highlights of a specific day in the House. During one of the weekly highlight episode, a group of various psychologists provided commentary throughout the episode. Their statements revolved around the statements made by the housemates, as well as an analysis of their body language and relationships throughout their time in the House. The live eviction episode was held on Friday, with a pre-eviction episode and an official eviction episode being held with a two hour gap between them. Footage of the House was available live on the Channel 4 website, however the video and audio quality was rather poor. The series ended on 15 September 2000 after 64 days in the House. The ratings grew over the course of the program, reaching 10 million watching the final episode on 15 September 2000. Prizes The ten housemates were in the game, competing for the grand prize of £70,000. House The Big Brother House was located in Bow, east London. The house for the first series was very basic, as part of the theme of the series. A living room was featured in the House, with blue walls lining it and the kitchen, which featured a stove and sink, along with the fridge. The House featured two nearly identical bedrooms, one for the men and one for the women. Each room featured five beds, with matching sheets and furniture. There was a shower room and toilet in the House as well. Housemates could communicate with producers in the room known was the "Diary Room". The Diary Room for the first season featured a simple design, being a small chair with a white background. Future seasons of the series would feature more elaborate Diary Rooms. The Diary Room was where nominations took place, and where housemates could reveal their thoughts. As seen in the third week, housemates could be seen by a medical professional in the Diary Room if necessary. The outside of the House featured a chicken coop with various chickens inside, from which the housemates collect eggs. Unlike other editions of the show, Big Brother 1 did not feature a swimming pool or hot tub for the housemates to use. There was also a garden in the backyard, which featured a vegetable patch which the housemates could use. Various two way mirrors are in the House, with a camera crew behind it. There are also various cameras and microphones throughout the House, providing the housemates with no privacy. While in the House, the housemates made various changed to the House. On Day 3, housemate Nichola began putting clay on her body and pressing herself against the wall, making body art on the living room walls. The others later joined her, leaving various hand prints and body figures on the walls. They also made letters out of clay and hung them on the walls. On Day 15, the housemates were allowed to paint portraits of a fellow housemate shortly before the first eviction. The House later decided to hang their paintings on the walls. Housemate Nichola later used magazines to make art on the walls in various rooms of the House, including a musical note in the girls' bedroom and a hand next to the Diary Room door. On Day 41, housemates were given a jacuzzi to use. Format Big Brother is a game show in which a group of contestants, called housemates, live in isolation from the outside world in a custom built "house", which includes everyday facilities such as a fully equipped kitchen, garden, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. The House is also a television studio with cameras and microphones in most of the rooms to record the activities of the housemates. The only place where housemates can escape the company of the other contestants is the Diary Room, where they are encouraged to voice their true feelings. Not all Diary Room footage is broadcast due to the privacy of the contestants. Each week all housemates nominate two of their fellow contestants for potential eviction. Failure to do so may result in a punishment, such as a reduction in the prize fund. The two or more, housemates with the highest number of nominations face a public vote conducted by phone, with the contestant receiving the most votes being evicted from the House. The last contestant remaining in the House is declared the winner and is awarded a cash prize of £70,000. On eviction night, there were two live eviction shows held. In the first, host Davina McCall would reveal to the housemates who had been evicted from the House, though the percentages were withheld from the group. Following the announcement, the evicted housemate had two hours to back their belongings and prepare to leave the House. At the start of the second episode, McCall would inform the evicted housemate that they had only moments to walk out the door. Upon exiting through the House's front door, McCall led the evictee into a studio where they met with their family and friends. While in the studio, McCall had an interview with the evicted housemate, and showed their best bits - a video compilation of their time in the House. Over the duration of the series, the housemates are given a series of tasks by Big Brother which test them in many ways. They are also put to the test by their own ideals, prejudices and opinions against other people from different walks of life; something that has survived from the original "social experiment" of Big Brother 1. They live in the communal House and share cooking and cleaning chores among themselves, which usually provides plenty of tension. Housemates are forbidden to sleep during daylight hours (unless unwell) - Big Brother plays the wake-up call persistently in the morning if housemates do not wake up and will play an alarm clock noise into the House if a housemate falls asleep during the day. Housemates must also live by the fundamental rules of Big Brother; if the rules are broken it can result in formal warnings, various punishments or even a housemate's removal from the House. They must wash their own clothes by hand, and they have to make their own bread from scratch. Each week Big Brother sets the housemates a task in order to determine the shopping budget for the following week. They must work together to win the tasks in order to win a luxury shopping budget which changed based on the amount of people remaining in the House. If all food runs out in the House, Big Brother provides emergency rations of chickpeas and rice. Housemates are responsible for their own shopping and decide which items the budget will allow them to have. Only a small percentage of the overall budget can be spent on alcohol. Each night, the housemates were also given a discussion topic, and they would have group discussions in the living room. Housemates The original ten housemates entered the House early on Day 1. Starting with the second week, one housemate was evicted each week until only three remained on the final night in the House. Claire Strutton entered the House on Day 37 as a replacement for ejected housemate Nick Bateman. Summary Week One On Day 1, the ten original housemates (Andrew, Anna, Caroline, Craig, Darren, Melanie, Nichola, Nicholas, Sada and Tom) entered the house. On Day 2, the housemates were given their first shopping task by Big Brother. This involved making clay pots and plates, of which more than three weren't allowed to crack. The housemates failed this task. Week Two On Day 9, the second weekly task was set to the housemates, where they had to remember ten facts about the other housemates. On Day 11, the housemates gave their first secret nominations, Caroline and Sada were nominated to face the public vote - as they both received for nominations each. Following her nomination, Sada debated with several members of the house whether or not she should walk. She decided against it. On Day 15, Sada became the first (ever) housemate to be evicted from the Big Brother house, after receiving 55% of the vote. Week Three On Day 16, the housemates were given their third weekly shopping task, in which they had to cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats via their home towns; a trip of 1800km. Due to a knee injury that Chris had got earlier during the process, the task started late and the housemates were given 300km off the total length they needed to cycle. They passed this task earlier than Big Brother had foreseen. On Day 18, the housemates nominated again. Andrew and (again) Caroline - were nominated, receiving four and five results respectively. On Day 19, the group chose a film that they would be able to watch after they performed a play. They chose to watch Happy Gilmore . On Day 22, Andrew became the second evictee, after receiving 68% of the public vote. Week Four On Day 23, the housemates were given the fourth weekly task, which dictated that the housemates had to learn the Semaphore signalling system. Then they had to both send and receive messages via this new system of communication. They failed this task. Furthermore, when the stroage room opened, the housemates were asleep, so they missed their opportunities. On Day 25, Caroline and Thomas were nominated to face the public vote. On Day 29, Caroline failed to survive her third vote, and was evicted, receiving 62% of the public vote. Week Five Following Caroline's eviction, the housemates came across an assault course. On Day 30, they learnt that their fifth task was for them all to complete it in under eight minutes. They passed this. On Day 32, Craig and Nichola were nominated for eviction. On Day 35, Nick was ejected from the house following weeks of controversy rumouring that he was attempting to influence nominations. This happened shortly after Darren and Craig did some poking around in his luggage to find names written down in luggage. After a fiery house meeting, Nick went to the Diary room to confess to Big Brother. On Day 36, Nichola was ejected from the house after receiving 72% of the public vote. Week Six Following Nick's ejection, a new housemate named Claire entered the house on Day 37, she was exempt from nomination. On Day 38, their sixth weekly shopping task began, in which they had to remember the order of faces that would pop up over the fence and random times between dawn and dusk. The group passed the task. On Day 39, there was a tie in the nominations, so four housemates - Anna, Craig, Darren and Tom - were nominated to face the public vote. On Day 40, a vet had to enter to take care of the chickens, so the housemates were banished to the girl's bedroom during that time. On Day 43, Tom was evicted by a margin of 1%. Week Seven On Day 44, the housemates were given their seventh weekly task, which was to make free-standing chicken wire sculptures. Everyone except Melanie failed the task, but because the others failed, the group failed as a whole. On Day 46, the nominations went ahead, but due to a sound leak involving one of Darren's nominations (where the housemates heard him nominate Craig), the housemates had to nominate again. Darren changed his vote to Melanie. The two nominated housemates were Claire and Craig Tasks Nominations table Notes As a new housemate, Claire was unable to nominate or be nominated. In week 7, Darren's nomination for Melanie and Craig was overheard by the rest of the house. Big Brother decided to cancel all the nominations and the housemates had to nominate for a second time in which Darren changed his nominations. Had this not happened, Claire, Craig, Darren and Melanie would have faced the public vote. There were no nominations in the final week. The public voted for who they wanted to win. Nomination totals Trivia *This series was the only one, where a contestant's eye was used as an official logo. In this case that of Melanie Hill's. *Lasting for a total of 64 days, Big Brother 1 is one of the shortest series. This achievement is tied with Big Brother 2, Big Brother 3 , Big Brother 4 and Big Brother 12. *Darren Ramsay was the only housemate from this series to have a child. *Also, having only 52 episodes, this series has the least amount of episodes for any regular Big Brother series. Category:Big Brother UK